The Novena to St Joseph starts today!

The countdown to our beloved St Joseph's feast day begins today. Being so close to Jesus and Mary makes him a powerful intercessor for us down here on earth.

As ever, Lacy at Catholic Icing has some great ideas for sharing the devotion with your children: something I intended to do, until our printer decided to stop responding this evening. Roo was very impressed with the printer earlier on today though when he scanned in his picture of a roman cavalry soldier and his chariot (above) and then emailed it to Dada and Uncle B.

Today we had a great day at home. Lots of time outside in fresh Spring air and sunshine, messing about with the wheelbarrow, cut grass, sandpit lid (makes a great toboggan: Mum or Dad have to pull it though), digging, squidging soil, planting seeds and cycling/ running/ tractoring laps round the house. Then the lads' newly opened shop and café kept them busy indoors in between times. The little Toot, barely 18 months old had a surprisingly long bout of play in the café, giving very personal attention to some of the customers: spoonfeeding them no less!

Quick fotie post

Well, it was back to reality today for us all as Lee headed off to work after a week looking after us. We got through it ok actually, thank God! I even got some washing dry ☼ It was a beautiful sunny day, so we had to get out and about: baby in the sling and the two busters in the buggy.

Here are some pictures from our lovely week with Lee:

Eddie Rocket's Knickerbocker Glory.... yummmee. At least I think he liked it...

Holy fish, Batman! Look closely.

A different kind of milking machine. At the milk market, of course. You bring your own bottle and fill it with creamy milk here.

Swordfish outside Rene Cusack's.

Digging the praties.

Sweetie. Lee said he was a great help. Brought back memories of his big budda 2 years ago.

honeysuckle stroll

Roo woke up feeling 'crook' this morning. He missed his school tour yesterday and had to come home early from school on Tuesday on account of a mysterious tummy bug. Today he was supposed to be taking part in sports day, but he was sick at breakfast, so we had to stay at home again. It's such a pity because he loves 'school' and all the fun and company, and the year is nearly over, so he'll be stuck with boring Mum and annoying little brother for two months until he can see people his own age again.

The weather continues warm and pleasant, thank God. I went for a walk down the lane with the lads in the buggy. The place seemed alive with bees: Roo spotted one in the 'white elephant pen' that the landlord made outside and we saw and heard many more along the way. At least three different species of bumblebees and some honeybees, the sacs on their back legs bulging with yellow pollen. They were busy touring the many wild flowers that have appeared since we last walked there. Pretty wild roses and heavenly honeysuckle, as you can see in the pictures. So, lovely sounds, sights and smells, including a warm earthy smell that reminded me of being a little girl (maybe from one of the long Surrey walks Dad used to drag us along on). A lovely stroll, we all benefited from being out in the fresh air: Roo chattered most of the way (even when he's not well he can't stop talking).

I gave the lads a little sprig of honeysuckle to smell and Poonch got upset when it fell out of the buggy as I folded it up. Sometimes the lads really surprise me with little sensitive things like that.

Sssstarting phonics

Roo and I have been doing some work today while Poonch was snoozing.
I'm going to follow the Jolly Phonics programme with him and see how we get on.
First up- the letter 's'-although he already likes to spot 'o', his first initial, when we're out and about.

Construction work

Don't let the doom and gloom merchants tell you there's no building going on. 'The buyers of great presents' gave the lads some lovely blocks for Christmas which were very well received. Roo has gone from building towers to quite elaborate structures such as this one which I believe is for the moon buggy.
He does get upset with baby budda, whose main contribution seems to be health and safety inspection which involves demolishing any building which he deems unstable. But even he has got bitten by the building bug as the other picture shows. He likes to applaud his own efforts, and who can blame him?

Poonch and I went swimming yesterday while Roo was at school. It's the first time we've been since he started walking confidently and he was a bit hesitant. Bit dubious about the shower... hmm... frowny little face, bit wobbly in the kiddy's pool: not helped by 'jug', which he insists on bringing everywhere and doesn't help his balance. Just generally not enjoying it. And he usually laughs at the drop of a hat. He's a happy little chap.

He reminded me a bit of Roo, lips going slightly blue, shivering due to lack of movement: he used to move his legs like a frog when you'd hold him up in the water. It didn't help that I'm pregnant and can't carry him all the time like I would have done before he was walking, although the water is brilliant for taking the weight. As I came out of the pool with Poonch, I felt the full force of the weight of both babies and it really struck me what my body manages every day.

I feel guilty about what has happened because it's mostly because I am pregnant that I haven't gone to the pool with the two lads lately and I'm worried Poonch, who was always so comfortable in the water, will have developed a fear of it, just because it's become unfamiliar to him.

Cherry buns for tea

Inspired by Saturday's little beauties, Roo and I made some 'berry buns' of our own yesterday. Here's the last one... Gobble, gobble...

Brambly hedges....

Lots of reasons to be cheerful today.
The weather has continued to be sunny and clear: I was outside in a T-shirt today. We were all out picking blackberries. Lee and me were collecting them in an old ice cream box and Roo was storing more in his tummy. He was like our quality control officer: sampling the produce to make sure it was good enough to use and encouraging us to keep on picking. (Mmmm... it's tayshty, Mama!) When the lunchbox was full we headed home and when the lads were in bed I made jam with our gathered berries. Guided by Darina Allen's excellent advice, I added some stewed bramley apples (to help it set) and ended up with four little pots full of my favourite jam. Lee also collected some sloes with the intention of making sloe gin, which we drank once in the North pre-sprogs. Here is a picture of a ladybird that we met along the way. One of the few I've seen this year.

Earlier at mass we were told that for the first time, the diocese' contribution to Trócaire'sLenten campaign exceeded 300,000 Euro, which is quite something in these times of recession. Maybe we think more of the plight other people when we are in a tight spot ourselves. Or maybe when times are good we think someone else will donate and we don't need to. Or we're too busy?
Fr Noonan also spoke about Holman Hunt's picture, The Light of the World. Apparently, years after it was painted, the version in St Paul's gave everyone a surprise. The image had become obscured with dirt, so they sent it off to be cleaned. The frame was removed and underneath it they discovered a message from the artist saying sorry for leaving the Lord outside for so long.
And look, can you see the brambles on the door?

Thank you!

It's off to the toy shop today. Doctor's orders! Thank God, yesterday's assessment went very well. Aside from a couple of small concerns, the two ladies who met us were happy with his progress. Roo was happy because he got to play with a vast wardrobe full of toys while I answered the questions.

When I managed to pry him away from the toys, we went home with a prescription for a toy! One which will develop turn-taking skills in Babba Roo so he doesn't get flattened when he starts playschool in the coming months, please God.

I am so relieved. Heartfelt thanks to everyone for all your prayers.

What would you do?

Our visitors kindly left us a present of two lottery tickets, one of which was for the Euromillions draw which is very big: last week's was Euro €25million. So before I checked the ticket, we were amusing ourselves pretending we'd won that vast sum. Roo often answers for Lou by putting on a high-pitched voice. But we were still pleasantly surprised when, in answer to my question, "Lou what will you get with the €25million?" a little voice piped up, "a rocket!"...
By the way, neither ticket was successful, so we won't be buying any rockets anytime soon.

Noah's Ark gets a makeover

Babba Roo decided that Noah's Ark needed some colour, so he took some chalk to it. Initially he was just drawing in the sea around the base of the vessel, but he got swept away on a wave of creativity and continued with the little house that sits on the deck, even the inside of it. I'm just not sure how I can persuade him that drawing on the walls of our house is not such a good idea, after seeming to sanction this bit of DIY?
In Mass today, there was a scary bloke next to us who decided to give out to a group of teenagers chatting at the back. They did actually stop when he spoke to him, but it made me think. They weren't paying attention to Mass, but they weren't distracting other people as they were speaking very quietly. I couldn't help thinking, 'at least they were there'. After all, young children like ours can be noisy and disturb Mass, but they are rightly welcomed as part of the Church. (Although I was a bit worried yer man might give out whenever Lou made a little squeak.) I wondered if they'd come back next week after his outburst. Is it better to have them there in some capacity rather than not at all? I agree that they shouldn't have been talking, but it is quite rare to see people of their age in Mass and they could hardly have felt welcome after that. What do parents of teenagers do if their children refuse to go to Mass?

It's the Baby Monster!

At least, that's what Roo calls his little brother when he is covered in food after another food-exploring session in the kitchen. So far he has helped himself to banana, pear, strawberries, raspberries, red pepper, courgette, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, egg, cheese, bread, potato and porridge as well as less healthy options such as chips (in a Dingle chippy), ice cream (mmm... Murphy's Baked Banana flavour, Dingle again) and chocolate cake (an exception for Mum's special birthday). Even our visitors, who were new to baby-led weaning (BLW), embraced this voyage of discovery. Not a puree in sight for this adventurous little epicurean.

Hope springs eternal

Today I planted out some Basil that Mum gave me at the weekend. I haven't had a lot of luck with Basil in the past. But if the weather is fairly warm and I can keep the slugs at bay, it may have a chance. Some good reasons to be hopeful, eh?
Roo got a new delivery of sand, but was reluctant to stay outside without me around.

All aboard!

Trains and space exploration are Babba's main interests at the moment. In common with most other little boys, I suppose. Today we visited a great playground while doing the weekly shop. Roo was so delighted when we finally got there ('course he spotted it at the beginning of the trip)- it was so sweet. He practically floated in, 'the playground, yay!'
Job satisfaction is simple enough to come by in this game.

Last chance corn

Roo planted these pots with sweetcorn today. It's a bit late in the growing season, but it seems like a waste of Lee's hard work in clearing the veggie patch not to put plants there. And could it possibly encourage Roo to eat vegetables?

Babba Nana Bread

I am enjoying making things from Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen. Last night I had a couple of too-ripe bananas to use up, so I tried her version of Banana bread. It varies from my usual recipe in that it has apple in it (rather than sultanas), and no vanilla essence. I thought Babba Roo might prefer it, now that he has gone off food with 'bits' in it. So here's the version I tried, only without salt and with wholemeal self-raising flour.


85g soft butter
150g sugar (soft brown Muscovado, etc)
2 large beaten eggs
4 mashed medium ripe bananas
1 grated apple
250g wholemeal self-raising flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp grated nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs gradually and beat.
Mix in the apple and bananas. Sift in the flour and spices and mix well.
Scrape into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 180ºC for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for 20-30 minutes on a wire rack. Eat. Make appreciative noises, such as 'mmmmm, tayshy, myummy'.

first playday and last workday

We got to the playgroup for the first time at last!! There were four other friendly mums there, with little boys of various ages. Just one little girl, a couple of months younger than Poonch, who also won't drink from a bottle. Her Mum and me compared notes, rare enough as it is to meet a fellow breastfeeding mama.

Poonch stayed awake for most of the hour and a half. He was very interested in watching the big boys play and smiled at the mums who commented on how 'placid' he is. Roo, meantime, had great fun messingwith PlayDoh, browsing unfamiliar books and hanging out with other little guys his age. It was another unforecast sunny, warm day and he kept trying to go outside to the very enticing playground.

Eventually his wish was granted and everyone went out for the final half hour. The little girl's mum has a boy a few months older than Roo and by the end of the session, the two were sitting inside a little playhouse on opposite sides of a table. One of his favourite things was definitely this gorgeous little 'cosy coupe', which, like the cars in The Flintstones, is powered by your feet. Fortunately there were three more of them, as they were very popular with all the other boys too.

I think all three of us enjoyed it and we hope to go back soon. Roo actually asked for 'bed' on the way home and is due up any minute.

Today is a special day, because it is Lee's last day at work for two whole weeks. I can't really remember the last time he had that long off in one go, but I think it was on our sadly truncated rail trip across Europe. I hope he has a lovely relaxing time and doesn't worry about work.

Ticky tocky pudding

We had planned to go to a local playgroup for the first time today, but to cut a long story short, we didn't.
So we got to work on something i started a couple of days ago when i boiled
225g chopped dates in
250ml tea for 1minute.
Being a warmer day than we are used to,
100g butter was lovely and easy to beat. Roo added
175g golden caster sugar and stirred away until really soft. Next we beat in
3 eggs individually. Then we added
1tsp vanilla extract with the dates and tea and mixed like crazy. Finally we sifted
225g self raising flour (actually 100g wholemeal sr plus 125g white sr in a pointless attempt to make it healthier) together with
3quarters tsp bicarb and 1 tsp mixed spice. I poured the mixture into the closest thing we have to a
20cm lined greased cake tin and fiddled about with our rubbish oven until i thought it was at a moderate temperature. Then i cooked it for about 45minutes.
Voilà.! La cake. Next step- the sticky toffee sauce.

The Green-fingered one

A lovely May day here, so we've been spending time in the garden.
We planted some spinach in pots. Meanwhile... The lettuce has started to grow but you have to look v closely to make out any sign of life in the carrot tyre. Of the 4 broad beans planted, just 2 have borne shoots- one of which (pictured) was planted by Babba Roo, hence his title as the most green-fingered member of the family. ...so far this year, at any rate.
On the subject of fingers! Lou has really started using his hands- reaching out to grasp things. He is fascinated with the oven glove with the pictures of teapots and cups on it.

Sunshine and showers

It's a blustery day here. We're just out between the showers and i can smell the May blossom in the air. Roo is painting the hay shed with his paint roller.